The Mindful Men Podcast

Trigger warning: Mental Health, Addiction   Welcome to Episode 114 - ADHD as a superpower with Dr James Stewart   Sometimes a mental health or disability diagnoses can cause us to dwell in the “label”. We can embody the condition, and struggle to separate it from our identity. But what if you could harness the uniqueness of your condition – and start thriving instead of simply surviving?   This we...

Trigger warning: Mental Health, Stroke   Welcome to Episode 113 - Challenges That Change Us with Ali Flynn   Life is full of challenges that we face. For the most part, we’re pretty good at overcoming these challenges, celebrating for a moment, then moving on with life. But what if that challenge fundamentally changes everything we do in life from that moment forward?   This is what happened to Al...

Trigger warning: Mental Health, Suicide   Welcome to Episode 112. Stress and breathwork with Thomas Beresford   Stress is inevitable in life. It comes and goes with different situations, and is actually a useful body response that enables us to evolve and thrive. But when we don’t release the stress through healthy outlets, it can grow and grow until we reach burnout. So how do we healthily releas...

Trigger warning: Mental Health   Welcome to Episode 111. The Positive Impact From Sharing Our Stories   Sharing stories has become an integral part of my life. From first sharing my story with a GP and Psychologist in 2012, to sharing my story with the world after burning out in 2020. I share stories in a lot of podcasts, and also welcome stories into my therapy practice Mindful Men.   This episod...

Trigger warning: Mental Health, Suicide   Welcome to Episode 110 – Veteran and First Responder Wellbeing with Shane Dimech   Imagine you’re in a mental health facility, standing in line and waiting for your meds. You’re hoping to heal, but get stuck in a cycle of meds, sleep, meds, sleep. For some that works. But for others like Shane Dimech, it wasn’t a pathway he wanted to tread. So he made the...

Trigger warning: Spinal Cord Injury   Welcome to Episode 109 –   Adapting to disability with Nathan Stapleton   Nathan Stapleton grew up playing the game he loved, rugby league. He went on to play National Rugby League (NRL) for the Cronulla Sharks, before heading over to the UK to play for the London Broncos. Rugby opened up the world to Nathan and his family, but it also took everything away fro...

Trigger warning: Mental Health, Suicide   Welcome to Episode 108 –   Mentoring Men with Simon Jarvis   Australia is in a mental health and crisis, and men are struggling big time. But unlike women and children, men have limited options available to them; The health system is female-orientated, and wait lists for mental health support are extending to 6-9 months in some cases. Unfortuantely this pu...

Trigger warning: Addiction, Childhood Abuse, Trauma, Suicide   Welcome to Episode 107 –   Stories of Hope with Kerrie Atherton   Losing hope can have us feeling like we’ve got nothing left to give the world. We can feel as though we’re broken, unwanted, unlovable and unworthy of being alive. Our lives can spiral out of control; impacting our mental health, relationships, careers and more.    But a...

Welcome to Episode 106 – Starting the new year with clearer focus     So you’ve woken up after new years and you’ve had a lightbulb moment. You want to get sober, or lose weight, or kick big goals in 2024. You start a list of new year’s resolutions… but deep down inside you know that you’ll probably give up by the end of January.   But what if I told you that you could make that resolution actuall...

Welcome to Episode 105 – Using values as a life compass   The Christmas and New Years period often brings up a bunch of “what am I doing with my life?” style questions. You’ve been through a year of hell, or a year of the same old, same old… and you’re yearning for change. But where do you start?    This week I give you an insight into a powerful mindfulness tool called – values. Values serve to c...

Welcome to Episode 104 – Mindful about Christmas and New Years   It’s the holiday season and a time of reflection. Whether it’s about how we’re going right now, or how we’ve gone over the past year, we can experience good, bad and ugly emotions during the Christmas and New Years period.   This week I sit down to give you some tips on navigating Christmas and New Years. From reflecting on the year,...

Trigger warning: Divorce, religious cult or sect   Welcome to Episode 103 – Freedom from life in a cult/sect/family with Rosie Rasmussen   For millions around the world, religion provides a connection with the spiritual self. It brings communities together, and teaches ways to navigate life through shared principles and values.    And whilst millions find freedom through religion, others have that...

Trigger warning: alcoholism, addiction   Welcome to Episode 102 – Grey Area Drinking with Sarah Rusbatch    So many of us struggle with alcohol, but we refrain from admitting it through fear of being labelled an alcoholic. We don’t fit the image of a stereotypical “alcoholic” – the guy who has lost everything to his drinking, needs to drink to function, and is sitting on a park bench taking a swig...

Trigger warning: Infant death, Bereaved parents   Welcome to Episode 101 – Red Nose Dads with Chris Wood   As a family man, my wife and kids are my everything. I simply can’t imagine a world without them.   And this is why my chat with Chris Wood was particularly eye-opening. Chris is a loving husband and bereaved father to Liam who passed away a 1 day old due to complications in utero. Chris brav...

Welcome to Episode 100 – What it means to be a mindful man   I first discovered mindfulness in my recovery from burnout in 2020. At first I thought it was a bit woo woo… a bit hippy… and certainly not manly!   But the more I dived into mindfulness, the more I discovered that it goes beyond meditation, gratitude and journaling.    In this special 100th episode, I reflect on the various definitions...

Welcome to Episode 99 –  Average Joes with Wayne Taylor   A plumber and a real estate agent walked into a bar…    It has all the makings of the start of a great joke, but what happened is anything but. In 2018, mates Wayne and Eliot put the call out to men of the Sunshine Coast to join them for a beer, chicken wings and chat. And it didn’t take long before blokes started rocking up – and Average J...

Trigger warning: Child Sexual Abuse, Graphic Violence   Welcome to Episode 98 – From prison to purpose with Sonny Von Cleveland   The thought of going to prison would horrify most people. But for some who have been in the prison system, it can provide safety, belonging and the time and space to heal. At least this was the situation for Sonny Von Cleveland.    Sonny was sexually abused as a child,...

Trigger warning: Alcohol abuse   Welcome to Episode 97 – Thriving after a liver transplant with John Weiman   Have you ever wondered what happens when you have “too much of a good thing?”. Alcohol can make us feel we’re on a good thing, but the long term impacts can have devastating consequences. This includes impacts on our mental and physical health, our identity, finances, relationships, career...

Trigger warning: Addiction Welcome to Episode 95 – Why I’m going alcohol free for the rest of 2023 For the past couple of months I have been undertaking a change in my diet and lifestyle that has been a long time coming. Alcohol has been a part of my life for a very long time and the ways it has influenced my life have changed over the years. But at the age of 40 I have decided to make a change an...

Trigger warning: Domestic Violence  Welcome to Episode 95 – Ending Men's Violence Against Women and Children with Allan Ball   Domestic Violence is a major issue in Australia that can present in many different ways. This includes physical, emotional, spiritual, online and financial forms of violence and abuse. And the statistics show that 95% of all victims of violence, whether women or men, exper...

Welcome to Episode 94 – That Eco Warrior with Mandy Spooner   When it comes to being mindful and aware, caring for our environment is something a lot of us are still learning about. There’s so many tricky ways to recycle, or be more eco conscious when using products in the pantry or the kitchen, but how do you even start? And how do you help your family start as well? To help answer those question...

Welcome to Episode 93 – Man Up with Gareth Shanthikumar  It's becoming widely understood that one way to encourage men to be more open about their mental health is to initiate and normalise conversations in childhood. What we are still figuring out is how, exactly, to have those conversations with young men in a way that is comfortable and impactful. The term ‘Man Up’ has traditionally been used t...

Welcome to Episode 92 - Finding Joy through the Inner Child (Solo episode)   In a world that often seems to prioritise seriousness and adult responsibilities, we often forget the advantages and joy that came with our childhood.   After a recent men’s retreat, I had an eye-opening experience that helped to reawaken my connection with my inner child. So in today’s episode I’ll be exploring just what...

Trigger warning: Gambling addiction, suicide   Welcome to Episode 91 – Strong Men Struggle with Gary Fahey Men who identify as Alpha males can often feel trapped when dealing with their internal struggles. The expectation to be strong, dependable and unwavering amidst chaos can clash with an internal voice that’s reaching our for help. But there is a way to balance the two, and this week’s guest i...

Trigger warning: Depression, PTSD, suicide   Welcome to Episode 90 - Open Arms with Ken Otter   Making any kind of life change can have a big impact on our mental health, but there are probably very few shifts you can make as big as returning to civilian life after serving in the military. The trauma that veterans experience can have long lasting effects, not just on them, but on the friends and f...